Miller: Lakers unwrap their consolation prize

Nov. 15, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Surrounded by members of the media, Mike D'Antoni, right, takes questions after being introduced as the new Lakers head coach Thursday at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Surrounded by members of the media, Mike D'Antoni, right, takes questions after being introduced as the new Lakers head coach Thursday at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Say this much for Mike D'Antoni: He's positive as he takes over as Lakers head coach, even as so many Lakers fans still consider his hiring to be negative.

So that, folks, is a plus.

Although, we'll also note that the NBA's celebrated consolation prize – after the Lakers' brass disappointed their faithful by opting not to bring back Phil Jackson – also admitted, "I told Metta, 'Hey, do what you do.'"

OK, so D'Antoni didn't give all the right answers or best advice on Day One of his new job.

But he's finally here now, hobbling in on crutches and an artificial knee, and is that any way for a savior to enter the picture? The best part about D'Antoni's arrival is that everyone soon can stop speculating on how this hiring will turn out. The situation is about to start speaking for itself.

Before that, though, here are a few concerns as everyone begins sorting out whether Lakers management, in picking this latest head coach, is smarter than the team's fans...

D'Antoni already is making jokes about playing Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash too many minutes in an attempt to win games now when bigger games in April, May and – the coach knows enough to hope – June await.

Bryant never has looked slower than he did last spring, dragging himself through the Lakers' second-round playoff loss to the younger, more athletic Oklahoma City Thunder. And Nash, whose knees are four years older than Bryant's, already is recovering from a bad wheel.

D'Antoni's Lakers will push the ball – "I told the team, 'If we're not averaging 110, 115 points a game, then we need to talk,' " he said. But just how much pushing can Bryant and Nash absorb and still be semi-fresh for the playoffs?

Asked directly if Nash, at 38, can do what Nash did in Phoenix seven, eight years ago, D'Antoni said, "I don't think we know." And that, for the Lakers and their fans, is one troubling mystery.

For the second consecutive season, the Lakers are starting – or restarting, this time – without the benefit of a full training camp.

Who knows how long it will be before their core players are truly healthy enough to even begin trying to executive and bond as one? D'Antoni estimated Howard is only 75-85 percent healthy.

And what happens if this never happens? The Lakers learned how failing health can stunt the development of a team when Andrew Bynum was here. Those Lakers, though, proved good enough to win anyway.

In late May, early June, against the Thunder or Clippers or Spurs or Heat, things like chemistry and trust among teammates can be the difference between winning and losing. Each of those teams will be more experienced as a group than the Lakers.

Each also, at this moment anyway, is more established defensively than anything the offense-first D'Antoni ever has assembled. And it's not like his teams have lacked decent defenders. D'Antoni has been armed with Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion and Raja Bell, among others.

Of course, he never has had Howard.

"He can put the 'D' back in my name," D'Antoni joked of the Lakers' swatting center. "Some people have been taking that out. He'll definitely do that."

But, Coach, about that bench? Anyone who thinks the Lakers' reserves are formidable has never seen the Clippers play. When Mike Brown was still here, he realized his subs were so outmanned he tried to keep at least one starter on the floor at all times.

In D'Antoni's up-tempo system, the bench will be even more important and, potentially, exposed. If this comes down to the contributions of Darius Morris, look out.

There is no question where the Lakers expect this to end. They concluded their first practice under D'Antoni by placing their hands in a circle and breaking with an in-unison chant of "championship."

"There's no use hiding it," D'Antoni explained. "This is our goal and this is what we should do."

An assistant for Team USA, D'Antoni understands the one thing – after all this coaching drama, after to Phil or not to Phil – the only thing that ultimately can hang another purple-and-gold banner.

"In the Olympics, they do a good thing," he said. "They give the gold medals to the players. The coaches don't get gold medals."

But this is the NBA, where only one team is recognized at the end, where only one team wins its final playoff game, where the 2012-13 Lakers will finish either as champions or as failures.

In the NBA, only one team gets rings when it's over, and you know what no one gets?

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